


As the World Comes Crashing Down

by teenybeanie



Series: The Long Night [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Arya-centric, F/M, Feelings, Post s8ep2, Pre-battle thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 18:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18722548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teenybeanie/pseuds/teenybeanie
Summary: The horns could be heard throughout the keep, from the deepest crypt to the tallest tower, clear notes that pierced through stone, iron, and the hearts of men. They sang the song of war as death marched on Winterfell.





	As the World Comes Crashing Down

**Author's Note:**

> We didn’t get any gendrya in ep3, and I’m thirsty! Also dreading what’s in store for my favorite couple, cause there’s three more episodes and let’s be honest, this show isn’t known for happy endings.

The horns could be heard throughout the keep, from the deepest crypt to the tallest tower, clear notes that pierced through stone, iron, and the hearts of men. They sang the song of war as death marched on Winterfell.

She was not afraid.Death was an old friend of hers.

Sansa stood beside her, fierce and proud in her Northern furs, glaring out over the battlements.The torchlight glinted off her hair as the wind whipped it behind her in a blood-red banner.It seemed almost possible that the Lady of Winterfell would beat back the endless night through sheer force of will alone.

In the courtyard below, the last minute scramble had reached a fevered pitch.Warriors were calling for more spears and arrows, women and men hurrying to their posts, the last of the children and elderly being herded into the crypts below.She squinted down at the dark forms, searching, but she could not distinguish him from the rest.

_“Arya.”_

_She looks up from fastening the dagger at her waist to find him staring at her.He’s only half-dressed, his leather vest still clutched tightly in his fist.And his face... she’s spent so long learning to read people’s faces, but she can’t read the inscrutable expression on his.Or perhaps she just doesn’t want to._

_A chasm yawns between them, and she doesn’t know how to bridge it.It was so much simpler before, when they were moving together in that frantic dance, skin to burning skin.There was no room for words, their lips and tongues otherwise occupied._

_She knows which words he wants to hear now, and she can’t summon them.They are buried too deep, under layers of pain and death and blood.And besides, the last time she spoke them to him, all those years ago, he turned her down._

_His earlier words echo in her ears._ The last time you saw me, you wanted me to come to Winterfell.Took the long road, but...

_Outside, the sounds of preparation are getting louder, bursting the bubble of silence in their storeroom, and he’s still staring at her.And as tempting as it is to take the coward’s way out and leave without a word, she can’t bear to do it.They could both be dead soon, and then it would be too late._

_In the blink of an eye, she’s standing before him, pulling him down by the front of his shirt.She glares up at him, ignoring the small bemused smile pulling at the corners of his mouth._

_“If you die, I’ll fucking kill you.”_

_With one last fierce kiss, she’s gone._

The horns died down, and a thick, suffocating silence blanketed the castle.Arya turned away from the courtyard and rejoined her sister’s vigil, staring out into the night.Beyond the light of the torches, the darkness seemed to writhe, ready to devour humanity’s last desperate stand.

Time stretched out between heartbeats.

She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes.Now was the time for prayers, though she had not prayed in years.She cast her mind to the old gods and the new, to the Lord of the Light, to the Many-Faced God and to Death itself.None of them had ever been kind to her, so she had only threats for them now. _If you fuckers take him from me again, I’ll add you all to my list._

Arya Stark opened her eyes.Winter had come, and she was ready.


End file.
